📍 Switzerland (Thurgau / Zurich Area) • Hybrid / Remote

Senior IT System Engineer

Application Operations & Mission-Critical IT Systems

I operate critical systems in a stable, secure, and highly available manner — supported by clear processes across operations, support, development, and customers. Calm, structured, and reliable, even in critical situations.

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Curriculum Vitae — English (PDF)

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Daniel Hekel
Daniel Hekel
Senior IT System Engineer
Switzerland (Thurgau / Zurich Area)
IT
Operations • Stability • Ownership
Application operations, critical systems, incident/problem/change, release & deployment.
Top focus
Production ops & availability
Working style
Structured & pragmatic
Collaboration
Interfaces & stakeholders
Contact
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Profile

Senior IT System Engineer focused on stable, secure, and highly available IT systems. Experience with business- and security-critical applications in healthcare, infrastructure, and customer environments.

Ops
Operations & Application Operations
Stability, availability, performance, and security in production.
PM
Technical Project Leadership
From concept to go-live, coordination and stakeholder communication.
Sec
Security & Availability
Best practices, risk/incident analysis, clean change processes.
UX
Communication Under Pressure
Calm, empathetic, solution-oriented — even in exceptional situations.

Core skills

Focused on what really matters in production operations.

Operations & Availability
  • Production operations of critical systems
  • Availability & stability concepts
  • System monitoring
ITSM & Processes
  • Incident, problem & change management
  • Ticket-based way of working
  • Release & deployment coordination
Platforms & Tools
  • Windows Server, Active Directory
  • PowerShell & automation
  • Databases (e.g., Sybase SQL Anywhere / MariaDB / SQL)
Interfaces & Customers
  • Stakeholder & interface management
  • Technical customer communication
  • De-escalation & crisis communication

Working Approach & Impact

Clear, structured, and proven in the operation of business- and security-critical systems.

I follow a clear, proven working approach designed to ensure stability, transparency, and long-term maintainability in production environments.

AN
Analysis & Assessment
Systematic clarification of requirements, risks, and operational constraints in close collaboration with stakeholders, support, and development teams.
PL
Planning & Design
Structured planning of system architecture, operating concepts, changes, and releases with a strong focus on availability, security, and maintainability.
DO
Implementation & Coordination
Technical implementation combined with active coordination across involved parties. Clear ownership, clean handovers, and controlled go-lives.
OP
Operations & Stabilization
Reliable production operations through monitoring, incident and problem management, and continuous improvement.
DOC
Reflection & Documentation
Traceable documentation, lessons learned, and solid decision bases for future changes.
Methodical Impact
  • Established runbooks, standards, and clear ownership → faster incident triage and fewer escalations
  • Risk- and rollback-based change planning → reduced unplanned outages
  • Targeted monitoring and alert tuning → less noise and improved response times
  • Clean documentation and handovers → stable operations even during team or role changes

Trends & Artificial Intelligence

Used consciously — applied responsibly.

I use artificial intelligence deliberately as a supportive tool in my daily work — not as a replacement for expertise or responsibility. Its use is reflective and purposeful, with a clear evaluation of benefits, risks, and information sensitivity. Especially in environments involving productive, business- and security-critical systems, a responsible approach is essential. Data protection, confidentiality, and traceability always take priority — to protect customers, systems, and organizations. For confidentiality reasons, I do not disclose internal metrics, customer names, or system details. My professional approach, applied processes, and methods are described transparently and deliberately. The goal is to increase quality, reduce errors, and support well-founded decision-making without delegating operational responsibility.

Selected Experience

Kept concise — happy to share details in a conversation or via LinkedIn.

Root Service AG – Application Operations (Spitex environment)
2022 – present

Operations, stability, and availability of a business- and data-critical core application in a productive Spitex environment.

  • Ensuring daily operations of a central application used for managing customer, assignment, and patient data
  • High availability of business-critical data continuously used by Spitex staff in daily operations
  • Reduced escalations through structured incident, problem, and change management processes
  • Stable operations through clear operational ownership and close coordination between support, QA, development, and customers
Stack & Umgebung
Platforms
  • Windows Server
  • Active Directory / GPO
  • Terminal Server environments
  • RDP / remote access concepts
  • Migrations to new servers or SaaS solutions
Automation
  • PowerShell (deployment, maintenance, reporting)
  • Batch scripts
  • Automation of recurring operational and maintenance tasks
ITSM & Processes
  • Incident, problem, and change management
  • Third-level support
  • Structured knowledge base
  • ISMS-aligned way of working
  • Analysis and tracking of technical incidents
Monitoring & Data
  • PRTG monitoring
  • Sybase SQL Anywhere
  • VEEAM backups and restore tests
  • Data integrity and database rebuilds
  • Regular system and functional checks
Interfaces & Responsibility
  • Technical point of contact for complex support cases
  • Coordination between support, QA, system engineering, and development
  • Maintenance and operation of technical interfaces of the industry software
  • Technical coordination with external IT service providers
  • Responsibility for emergency and special solutions (e.g. emergency laptops)
New Voice – Technical Project Lead (alarm server systems)
2021 – 2022

Technical project leadership and implementation of security-critical alarm server systems in productive customer environments, focusing on reliable alerting, access control, and high availability.

  • Design, implementation, and commissioning of stable alarm server systems for security-critical communication and alerting processes
  • Integration of VoIP telephony, SMS gateways (COM port connections via Moxa), and email notifications
  • Integration and control of external components such as WAGO controllers for event and alarm processing
  • Implementation of role-based user and permission management via server-side directory structures (integrated user management)
  • Use of text-to-speech for automated alerting of defined user groups
  • Execution of tests, acceptance procedures, and validations in protected test environments
  • Responsibility for clean go-lives, structured handovers, and sustainable long-term system operation
  • Close coordination with customers, stakeholders, and internal teams throughout planning, implementation, and handover
Stack & Umgebung
Server & Platform
  • Windows-based alarm server systems
  • Integrated user and permission management (AD-like structures)
  • Production and test environments
Communication & Alerting
  • VoIP telephony
  • SMS modules (COM port integration via Moxa)
  • Email notifications
  • Text-to-speech (automated alarm calls)
Interfaces & Hardware
  • WAGO controllers for event and alarm control
  • Serial interfaces (COM ports)
  • External alarm and communication components
Project & Quality
  • Technical project leadership
  • Testing and acceptance in protected environments
  • Go-live planning and structured handovers
  • Stakeholder and customer coordination
Security & Operations
  • Security-critical alerting processes
  • High requirements for availability and reliability
  • Long-term productive operation of delivered systems
SBB / Thurbo – Customer Service & Crisis Communication
2013 – 2020

Operational role in safety-critical railway environments with clear processes, high responsibility, and daily decision-making under time and expectation pressure.

  • Customer service and targeted passenger guidance during regular operations as well as disruption and exceptional situations
  • Preparation and dispatch of trains, including tasks requiring valid operational railway certification
  • Ticket inspections, announcements, and proactive passenger information during delays or operational incidents
  • Handling complaints, conflicts, and emotionally charged situations in direct customer contact
  • Strict adherence to defined operational procedures, safety regulations, and responsibilities
  • Collaboration with internal departments, control centers, and operational units to ensure safe and orderly rail operations
  • Calm, structured action and decision-making even under high time pressure
Stack & Umgebung
Operations & Safety
  • Safety-critical operational procedures
  • Responsibility in passenger transport
  • Working under clearly defined rules and responsibilities
Processes & Communication
  • Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
  • Crisis and disruption management
  • Direct customer and stakeholder communication
Roles & Responsibility
  • Operations-adjacent roles with formal certifications
  • Collaboration with control centers and operational units
  • Independent decision-making under pressure

Projects

Alongside application operations: technical and creative projects with professional standards.

Design and implementation of custom websites using HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript — as a performant alternative to traditional CMS-based approaches.

Why it matters: End-to-end responsibility from planning and implementation to operation fosters a holistic system understanding and realistic assessments of maintainability, risks, and operational effort.

  • End-to-end project handling: pitch, project management, implementation, documentation, and basic legal considerations
  • Sustainable web solutions: content, design, technical planning (e.g., Gantt-oriented), marketing basics, and budget control
  • Full lifecycle responsibility: domain management, hosting, deployment, and operational aspects
  • Goal: stable, performant, and long-term maintainable web presences

Technically demanding low-level programming in C/C++ with a focus on classic gaming platforms (Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive). These projects require precise control over build processes, memory, timing, and toolchains — comparable to highly constrained production system environments.

Why it matters: Working under extreme technical constraints sharpens the focus on reproducible builds, clean toolchains, deterministic behavior, and controlled changes — core principles in operating business- and safety-critical systems.

  • High standards for clean builds, reproducible results, and maintainable codebases
  • Strict adherence to compiler and platform constraints despite historical hardware limits
  • Design and technical optimization of custom graphic assets (sprites, tilesets) for memory and rendering constraints
  • Development of lightweight game engines within fixed CPU, RAM, and rendering budgets
  • Structured toolchains, internal documentation (wiki), reproducible build processes, and redundant development environments

Technically sound digitization and archiving of historical media for personal use, with a strong focus on data integrity, long-term availability, and sustainable media preservation — comparable to operating long-lived, data-driven systems.

Why it matters: The consistent focus on data integrity, checksums, metadata management, and redundant storage mirrors the requirements of audit-proof, long-term maintainable data assets in professional IT operations.

  • Verified dumps of cartridges, CDs, and DVDs including checksum validation (CRC, MD5, SHA) to ensure bit-accurate and unchanged copies
  • Structured archiving of historical magazines: high-resolution scans, image post-processing, and OCR for searchability and metadata management
  • Digitization of analog media (VHS) including video and audio restoration for loss-minimized conversion into modern formats
  • Long-term storage via private server infrastructure with redundant backups, consistent directory structures, and media management (e.g., Plex)
  • Strong focus on traceability, retrievability, and long-term maintainability of archived data sets

Professional music production across the entire creative and technical process — from composition and recording to mixdown, mastering, and release. The focus is on clean workflows, clear approvals, and reliable releases under time pressure.

Why it matters: This work requires structured release management, high quality standards (QA), reliable processes under tight deadlines, and clear customer and stakeholder communication — skills that translate directly to operating productive IT systems.

  • Over 15 years of experience with a fully equipped home studio and work in professional large studios (including Orisono)
  • Release management for albums, compilations, and singles across labels such as Mental Madness, AATW, Munix Music, Orisono, and Sony Music
  • Quality assurance (QA), approvals, and customer communication through to final release
  • Setup: Steinberg Cubase (primary), FL Studio (ReWire), extensive VST/VSTi stack for sound design, mixing, and mastering

Contact

Send a short message — I’ll get back to you reliably.

Alternatively: daniel@hekel.ch
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